Book club is starting up for the year today on Thursday, September 26. Everyone is welcome to come to this low-maintenance extracurricular. It meets once a month, usually the first Thursday of the month. It’s student-led with the students suggesting and voting on the four books for the month. Reading books is not required and many come to socialize. In December, there is a holiday book swap that is a big hit. Food or drink is often provided.
Almost all books chosen are great reads: ‘The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson, “Finding Me: A Memoir” by Viola Davis, ‘The Anthropocene Reviewed” by John Green, ‘The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller, “Chasing the Boogeyman” by Richard Chizmar, “If We Were Villains” by M.L. Rio, “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr, ‘The Lovely War” by Julie Berry, ‘This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and so many others. However, to celebrate the start of BAHS book club’s 2024-2025 run, let’s talk about one of the only bad books every picked, selected as one of the books for April/May 2024, “1Q84” by Haruki Murakami.
1Q84 Book Review
‘1Q84’ is translated from three volumes written by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Described by ‘Goodreads’ as, “a love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s,” it would seem to have a little something for everyone. This book was a big hit in Japan and was nominated for multiple awards, but is it worth reading the 1157 pages?
I would say no. I personally think the novel was terrible and have complained about it to many people. It is one of three flops that the Bel Air Book Club has had since I joined in my freshman year (in my opinion. I know Mrs. Olive loves ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig while I abhor it).
Set in Japan in 1984, Aomame finds herself in a parallel universe after she climbs down a maintenance exit on a highway. Personal trainer and secret defender of abused women, she must transverse this new world as her life gets more complicated. Aspiring author Tengo ghostwrites for a girl’s story that might be more truth than fiction. As supernatural forces converge on them as the second moon rises, will they find each other once again?
There are very few elements that I liked about this novel. Within the book, there was a story about a town that was deserted by day and ruled by humanized cats at night. It was an interesting story that was later used as a metaphor for Tengo. If the book was just this tale, I would have been happy, but it wasn’t so I digress.
I quite like the secondary antagonist, Ushikawa. He served his purpose well and felt like the only character to do anything (a point I will get back to later). Ushikawa was a personal investigator who worked for the group that were the main antagonists. His appearance and personality were both ugly, which he used to his advantage. His motives were clear, and he worked to achieve them. I ended up rooting for him more than our protagonists; not a good sign for any book. I also liked how his participation in the book ended. It was in a highly creative and unique way that included another one of the only characters I liked, the bodyguard Tamaru, and a plastic bag. This was one of the few good parts. But it took until 60 pages left to get to this event and then the book goes back to being bad.
The first negative element was the setting. I don’t mind that it was set in Tokyo or that it is the year 1984. My problem lays in the fact that it is set a parallel world is relatively the same as the normal world except for about four things: the police wore and had different equipment, the US and the Soviet Union built a moon base together, there was a shootout against the police during a raid, and there were two moons (but only three people could see the second moon so the affect was minimal). They didn’t really do anything in this alternate world. No one in this world was in any way suspicious when Aomame was transported into this world. She just goes about her everyday routine. When she did realize her predicament (even naming the reality 1Q84, Q for question), she does nothing about until there are about 100 pages left. It mostly feels like it was an advertising ploy to get association with the popular George Orwell book, ‘1984’ (there was even a reference to this book within this novel).
Next, let’s talk about the characters. I couldn’t get behind the Aomame and Tengo. Tengo introduction was very off-putting and effected how I thought of him for the rest of the book. Aomame was introduced in a cool way and then grew boring. The characters didn’t always have clear motives, or they didn’t act upon them. The plot drove them, not the characters themselves. They are often inactive, thinking rather than doing. Also, we got way too much backstory to pretty much all the characters that were unnecessary or done in a way that was unnatural.
The dialogue is an issue all to itself. Most of the time it was either very philosophical or a repetition of what the character had just said. This wouldn’t have been a problem if it was only one or two characters, but no it was all the characters (except one but she didn’t say much and was supposed to be like a cryptic Luna Lovegood). People don’t naturally talk like that. Thus, making it hard to connect with the characters or even care about their conservation.
The biggiest problem, however, was the plot. It was very drawn out leaving a stagnated feeling. It was also just downright confusing. Even BAHS’s librarian Mrs. Holly Olive said she has trouble getting into it. Aomame and Tengo don’t even meet in the current time (as they did know each other when in third grade) until there are 80 pages left. Once you reach the halfway point in the book, you are just begging them to meet. I got very frustrated with this ploy at several points. And even when they finally get together, it’s not satisfying because you don’t even enjoy them being together.
Then there are subplots that the author makes that seem like they are important, but then aren’t explained or allowed up. Near the end of the book, they make a big deal of Aomame having procession of a gun as at multiple points she and the bodyguard get philosophical dialogue over it. The gun never gets used. A specific piece of music was relevant then never mentioned again. There was a ghost tv fee collector (the government ran the only program you could watch and had salesman like people go door to door to collect the tax). It was implied that it was Tengo’s comatose father, but they never explored it fully. Neither Tengo nor Aomame really tried to find out how this was. Also, most of the book was weird with multiple mature components that the author kept bringing up. They added nothing to the story, if even detracted from it.
The one quality is that the author did a decent job in tying together multiple subplots together at the end. But it was done so that while most of the novel dragged on, the last 100 pages are so fast paced that it seemed rushed, and when you get to the last page it feels unfinished. It leaves more questions than it answers. Depending on the book, this can be a decent quality, but this book is not one of them. It leaves you feeling unaccomplished and frustrated.
In conclusion, unless you read books to criticize them, I wouldn’t pick up ‘1Q84’. I will, however, end with the fact I recognize that I might not be the intended audience for this book. Maybe it was better in its original language. Maybe it responds better to people living in Japan. Maybe it resonates with someone who lived through 1984. Maybe it makes more sense to someone who gets the references made and metaphors used. Maybe an older person can get some of the more mature content. Maybe it’s better for someone who likes more intellectual-driven stories rather than an action-filled one. Not every book is for everyone and maybe this book is for you even if it wasn’t for me (but don’t say I didn’t warn you).
Don’t let this review turn your head from book club! I had forced myself to read this book, wanting to read every book that was picked, but members are in no way required to finish any book. Most members read only a handful of the books chosen, all picked themselves. If you are an eager reader, please consider coming to our meetings! If the club does not get the minimum of ten members, Mrs. Olive will be forced to cancel the club. We hope to see you there!